Thursday 21st March
Read Matthew 5:31-32
“‘It has been said, “Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.” 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” (NIVUK)
What precisely are the implications of the only ‘exception’ Jesus gives as grounds for divorce? It means that most of the usual reasons given as grounds for divorce, are not reasonable at all. This includes all sorts of reasons that are considered perfectly acceptable today. Irreconcilable differences, lack of love, different beliefs – none of them are grounds for divorce according to Jesus. In fact, when Paul wrote to the Corinthian church and they thought that if one party converted but they remained married to a partner who did not believe – almost the perfect grounds for separating oneself from one’s spouse – his advice was to remain married (1 Corinthians 7). That is how insoluble Jesus and the apostles considered the marriage bond. If marriage results in the ‘two becoming one flesh’, the only way in which the marriage bond is broken is if either party joins with someone else.
At this point we may be feeling hemmed in on all sides. If the bond is only broken by death or infidelity, and even that only provides grounds for divorce, rather than requiring it, surely the standard is beyond mere mortals? It is certainly a higher bar than most of society, and the church, today believes. Yet falling short of that bar is not the unforgivable sin. Jesus sent the woman caught in adultery away with the incredibly gracious words – ‘Go now and leave your life of sin.’ (John 8:11) (NIVUK). Gracious because even as He spoke them, He knew He would bear the price for that sin – the punishment for adultery being death. Because of His death in our place, we too can leave our life of sin.
